Country Diary: Ben Fogle

While the "pasty" war rages between Cornwall and Devon, after the
British Pie Awards nominated Chunk of Devon the "Best Cornish Pasty"
award, the Cornish Pasty Association has approached the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra) to obtain Protected Geographical
Indicator status for the county's famous export.

To protect the quality and highlight the heritage of their own product, the Cornish Pasty Association is demanding that pasties from their neighbouring county be named Devon pasties.

Melton Mowbray pork pies were successful in their application for PGI status, as were Arbroath Smokies, but one famous company wasn't quite so fortunate.

Newcastle Brown Ale gained PGI status when its ale was brewed only in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but the status was revoked by the EU when it moved its factory across the river to Gateshead. Gateshead Brown Ale anyone?

Each weekend my father launches his beloved Canadian canoe into the River Arun in West Sussex, and while the dogs paddle along its green banks, he imagines a slice of the Canadian wilderness in southern England.

The WWF, for whom I am an ambassador, has recently launched the Our Rivers campaign. It has been estimated that less than 20 per cent of our rivers are currently in "good" status.

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Billions of litres of water are removed each day for homes, industry and agriculture in the UK alone, and globally, similar activity means that more than half the world's wetlands are being destroyed.

Now, under the Water Framework Directive, the Government's Environment Agency is carrying out a public consultation to decide the fate of every river in the UK.

The initiative has been co-launched with the RSPB, the Angling Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts, and it is inviting local groups and individuals to tell them how much their rivers mean to them, which in turn should enable the Government to draw up an effective river-management plan. The consultation closes on June 22 (www.ourrivers.org.uk)

George Savage, an Ulster Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, wants more free milk to be made available to schoolchildren in the province.

He has called on Stormont's Departments of Agriculture and Education to work together to make it happen.

Wales already provides school milk for children between the ages of five and seven, and the initiative is funded by the National Assembly.

The dairy industry in Northern Ireland is currently on its knees, with farmers receiving just 19p per litre produced – 7p less than farmers in Britain.

Mr Savage believes that EU subsidies could help with the scheme, and supporters see it as a means of relieving the pressure on the country's hard-hit dairy farmers. Perhaps central government should be looking towards a similar scheme countrywide in a year when UK milk production has been at its lowest since the 1970s.